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Lunik

Apr 29, 2009, 11:46 AM

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The Flu in Mexico

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tonyburton

Apr 29, 2009, 2:58 PM

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Re: [Lunik] The Flu in Mexico

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Published minutes ago on our front page is an article by Anthony Wright in Mexico City about the "swine" flu:
http://www.mexconnect.com/...ife-in-a-masked-city

BajaGringo

Apr 29, 2009, 10:53 PM

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Re: [tonyburton] The Flu in Mexico

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Posted it elsewhere but it bears repeating. The WHO - World Health Org. - has upgraded this to a level 5 alert.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30398682/

Our House Building Project in Mexico...
Lomas de San Martin
Loving Life on the Baja Peninsula

Ustlach

Apr 30, 2009, 1:10 PM

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Re: [Lunik] The Flu in Mexico

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I have decided to lay reasonably low for the next little while, due to this H1N1 thing. But I do feel a little silly doing it.

I went to Costco yesterday because I NEEDED things. I ought to go to the bank, but I will wait.

I will take all this a little more seriously when the Mexicans start wearing their masks over their noses as well as over their mouths.

At least two of the checkers at Costco had the top edge of their masks in their mouths and were chewing on them.

Come to think of it, even before the flu outbreak, I had never seen a Mexican food preparer, like in the taco stands, who wore the mask over his/her nose.

What's up with that?

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Hound Dog

Apr 30, 2009, 4:27 PM

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Re: [Lunik] The Flu in Mexico

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Wow I find wierd I didnt saw 1,000,000 posts talking about it!

Anyway I'll post it. Im sure you hve heard about this flu virus, and all it causes. I've read many people have canceled their vacations to Mexico because the flu. Let me tell you that at leas, here in Cancun, there are not cases of flu. I've been here for a week and I still feeling perfect.

Well, Lunik:

I was also feeling perfect down in Chiapas and the the next thing I knew the sumbitch I never met before a couple of days earlier was yanking out my gall bladder. Life is funny that way.

Now, up until yesterday, my wife and I were considering canceling our flight from Guadalajara to Paris and the airline may still do this but we were visiting a reknowned lung specialist in Guadalajara who is reputed to be the best in this area and he was poo-pooing the flu thing and telling us that those masks mainly protect the people around the person adorning same and he indicated that there is no way we should cancel unless, of course, the airline or govenmental agencies cancel in our stead and, while I am aware that this doctor will not be on those flights from Guadalajara to Chicago and then on to Paris I figured. what the hell, I am going to have to fly to France at one time or another sometime in the next year as a family obligation so I might as well get it done and France is a fine place to be no matter what if I actually make it there and the thought of a mostly empty flight with the Dawg stretched out over three or four empty tourist class seats is quite inviting vs. the crowded conditions awaiting The Dawg upon termination of this absurd health scare and then I will be eating entrecote with Bearnaise Sauce and Pommes Frites and drinking good red wine in Paris and wonderful seafood in La Rochelle for a month rather that crappy tacos and beer in Chapala so why not just bite the bullet and do it.

If I don´t make it I will have had 67 years here and one thing I have learned in those 67 years is never tempt fate. As sure as I fail to make that flight and decide to hang around Lake Chapala, some sumbitch is gonna run over me on the carretera and that entrecote with the bernaise sauce is going to be warming the belly of some Frenchman while they squeeze The Dawg into a plastic bag.

ms mac

Apr 30, 2009, 6:00 PM

Post #6 of 9 (2248 views)

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Re: [Hound Dog] The Flu in Mexico

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You've got to go with your gut feeling, Dawg. Sounds as though you and Brigitte will have a fine time in France enjoying the good life.
ms mac

Papirex

Apr 30, 2009, 7:07 PM

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Re: [Hound Dog] The Flu in Mexico

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The Doctor is right Bob, those masks are not worn to protect the wearer, but to protect the people around them in the event that the wearer of the mask has already been infected. They do that very well.

You will probably have a comfortable flight, many people believe that an airliner is a sealed tube with no fresh air available to the passengers. Actually, fresh air is being constantly supplied. The FAA and most other governments mandate that at least 50% of the air in an airliner is fresh at all times. There have been some problems getting some airlines to comply with that standard, and the source of the fresh air has been problematic too.

Most modern jets get the fresh air from one of the jet engines first compressor blades. In recent years a lubricant/solvent has been injected into the engines in flight by many airlines. Not all of the fumes from those solvents is always filtered out and traces often are in the atmosphere in the airplane. People that are sensitive to them often have headaches and other problems during and after a flight from breathing those fumes.

The new Boeing Dreamliner is the first airplane to be built in 40 years that does not use the engine compressors as a source of atmospheric air.

Do a Google search and you will learn more about the atmospheric air in airliners than you ever wanted to know.

Rex

"The supreme happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved" - Victor Hugo

tashby

Apr 30, 2009, 9:17 PM

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Re: [Hound Dog] The Flu in Mexico

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...the thought of a mostly empty flight with the Dawg stretched out over three or four empty tourist class seats is quite inviting...

I was just thinking the same thing yesterday. A few days ago a friend of mine from Seattle who had planned to come down May 5 asked me what I thought and I told her, "Don't cancel....you'll know a lot more in a few days."

An empty plane sounds really nice. Then again, it's still a plane, and some airports and blah blah blah.

(This post was edited by tashby on Apr 30, 2009, 9:18 PM)

Papirex

Apr 30, 2009, 10:03 PM

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Re: [tashby] The Flu in Mexico

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I have a cuñado that lives in Tacoma, he is engaged to marry my wife's best friend in México City and he has been making trips to México 3 or 4 times a year for a couple of years. He had reservations to fly down here on May 15th. He talked to his fiancé and she told him it would not hurt her feelings if he wanted to wait a while before he came down again.

He decided to wait a month to see if things will be any easier then. When he called the airline, they told him so many people had canceled their flights that they had canceled it and rescheduled him for May 18th, but there would be no charge if he wanted a different date. I'm not sure of the date, but he told me he had rescheduled his flight a month ahead.

It is probably a good thing he did that. In today's paper there was an announcement that departing international passengers at most Mexican airports will be subject to health screening and anyone with symptoms of high fever etc. will be given more tests and if the results match the symptoms of influenza A they will be denied boarding until a positive diagnosis can be done.

Even if a passenger gets a clean bill of health, it probably means another hour or more delay while boarding the plane. I don't know how other people feel about it, but I have taken so many airline trips on business in my life that I hate being in airports or airliners.

Rex

"The supreme happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved" - Victor Hugo